Listen: Life is good.
For now, anyway.
It won't mean a thing, if we don't get that ring. And it's been 15 lost years, worst Yankee drought in history. On top of that, our batters could not drive in runners, Aaron Judge seemed in a fog, and the Gammonites are already measuring Juan Soto's Mets jersey... but but BUT... no matter how you slice it: Life. Is. Good. (And nothing drives home a point... Like. Excessive. Periods.)
We just beat a hot, hungry, rising, fast, and increasingly hateful KC team - which had beaten a young, hungry, increasingly disappointing arch-rival, Baltimore. We did this despite the following stats over four games:
Yankee scores: 6, 4, 3, 3.
Team BA: .220
Team OPS: .693
Notables: Aaron Judge (.154), Austin Wells (.125) Jazz Chisolm (.133).
The positives? Well, we didn't get flattened by a hurricane. Nobody broke his fingers. It's not like we wasted a 12-run night. The bottom of the order grinded out walks. Stealin' Giancarlo looked great. We know Judge eventually will hit. (Wells? not so sure.) And the bullpen, holy shit! How did that happen? Regrets? I have a few. I wanted someone to punch Garcia in his big fat mouff - (what's with KC 3B?) - but let's sign Mickey Rourke this winter and let him handle it.
Not sure who to root for Saturday, aside from extra innings and a few tweaked gonads. The Tigers will start Cy Young, Tarik Skubal, who'd be unavailable until game three of the ALCS, so there's that. Still, this are the new, spaced out and restful postseason schedule. Dunno...
I hesitate to write this, but here goes:
Life is good.
For now...
I am hiding under the bed in the basement.
ReplyDeleteFor one night things did not suck. Now please return to your existential dread
ReplyDeleteFuck Hal.
I'm well past the point of caring. Couldn't give a flying rat's ass. Well, maybe I give half a flying rat's ass about it. Cashman & Co. has benumbed me. Taken away all the joy of following the Yankees. It all seems so hollow. "We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men."
ReplyDeleteCole came within a baby mouse's eyelash of blowing the whole damn thing. Made some serious mistakes. But he somehow held the fort. You have to think that maybe he doesn't get away with most of those mistakes against a better hitting team.
ReplyDeleteBoth teams homer a lot more if the weather were warm. One of the reasons the yankees offense goes to sleep every postseason is meteorological. But nothing is stopping judge from hitting 450 feet homers that go over the wall at 415 in October
DeleteJudge and Stanton got fat pitches and hit 'em. Good for them.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing -
ReplyDeleteLife is good, period. It's a precious gift and it's great to be above ground. It's most of the game. Life is good. Now, life as a Yankee fan - is that good? We can all argue one way or another, but Duque is right in that we won last night, every Yankee win is a good win and, just for today, life is good. Also, in 30 years, if we win the Series, NOBODY will be remembering the backstory of our suckitude and despair, our wringing of hands and beating of breasts, the endless wailing and moaning in all corners of Yankeedom at all hours of the day and night. They will only remember the year, the four digits, and maybe some warm fuzziness in other ways. "Remember how we had such doubts in that perilous time, oh ye of little faith?" That's how it will go.
We cling to every joy.
Remember, though...hearken back to what it felt like in the late 1990s, deep down in your gut, in your sphincter, in your bones what it felt like to be a Yankees fan. Even though nothing was guaranteed or pre-ordained, even though they had to go onto the field and still get every out and every run, there was a certain mystical power that throbbed from the old Stadium, that emanated from their very presence. Do you feel that from this crew? I remember convincing myself I felt that in 2009, but deep down, I also felt that some of the magic was gone. We have no foundation now, no core. Maybe Cash--hole is correct. Maybe the playoffs are just a crap shoot and we all kind of get lucky. Of course, this negates the concept that he is the genius architect of a winning team, doesn't it? If it's a crap shoot, why wake up in the morning? Why make all those horrible trades? Okay, I guess his job is to be nursemaid to fate, to do his best, to cooperate with the gods. If we won, how come it doesn't feel like it used to? Am I just getting old? Have they broken my threshold of joy in being a fan?
Or is Boone just an idiot? Torre used to talk about how some things can make you look like a genius, but they are really luck. I don't know if I buy that completely.
There is some other component to a winning team and I'm not sure we have it, but we might win, anyway and I'll just look like a blathering fool. I'm okay with that, so long as we win. You will all forgive me and nobody will really care. So, a win is a win is a win, as Caesar might have said, but a win is a single battle and the campaign is still up in the air. I still fear that we are being set up for supreme NYC crucifixion, Mets style, and the soul of New York City is in the balance.
I think it's funny that Torre said that, since he was the luckiest manager of his era. And when the luck/genius was running out, he wanted a raise.
DeleteBoone is an idiot, granted, but it's weird how all the tinkering and experimentation (even in September) stopped and things seemed to suddenly gel. We have a closer. Verdugo is the left fielder, and he's doing pretty well. Judge is slumping but Stanton and Torres and Soto aren't, and combined with the shockingly good bullpen, they may be enough.
So all the stupid tinkering and trying this guy and that guy in different spots and giving players a more-than-fair test (some of them failing, but better to know that going into the offseason) got us a pretty stable lineup and pitching staff. Remarkable. Boone may be an unappreciated genius.
Naaahhh. Idiot.
We're still stuck with Rodent. But we might be able to overcome that.
"Have they broken my threshold of joy in being a fan?"
DeleteYeah, 13bit, that's it, exactamente!
It ain't the same as back in the Bernie/Jeter dynasty years because the franchise ain't the same. Back then, I believe they were trying to win it all every year. These days, from around 2010 on, they just try to "compete", as Duque said. Other things have taken priority over winning championships. Everything management does now only underscores that. So, if they don't give a shit about winning championships, then why should I care? Why should I care? I'm out of my brain on the five fifteen! Out of my brain on the train on the train....
Not only is Booooone an incompetent manager, he's getting kudos for the bullpen racking up 15 innings of zero baseball. As if he had something to do with that.
ReplyDeleteAdd to that the fact that the Yankees did not commit a single error in the field (aside from Soto diving for a ball that he had no chance in hell to catch).
And then there is JM's hero.
What are the chances of all three things continuing in tandem? It's as if Haley's Comet is circling the earth. On second thought, maybe it's just the good fortune of playing against a team that lost over 100 games last year: the glad-to-be here Royals.
Oh, and then there's this: "For the first time in nine career playoff starts with the Yankees, Cole didn't allow a home run."
ReplyDeleteWanna bet that streak won't get to two?
Yeah, he came awful close to blowing it. You gotta think that if it had been the Tampons or the ASS-stros hitting those shots, it would've been a whole different story.
DeleteWhoa! Whoa! Easy on the mania, you lot!!
ReplyDeleteHey, Joba was at the game:
ReplyDelete"Chamberlain added that he was glad to see Giancarlo Stanton play hero with his go-ahead solo home run in the Yankees’ Game 3 win Wednesday night.
“Yeah, he may not outrun the cattle truck outside,” Chamberlain said. “But he’s going to change the game.”"
JM, is that a cattle truck empty or loaded with beef?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Joba didn't specify.
DeleteIt could be made out of balsa and the results would be the same
DeleteOur Flouncy injected himself right into the fracas last night and I was happy to see that. Also Jazz and Verdugo with the trash-talk - did the team suddenly develop a pulse?
ReplyDeleteWent out back to watch the aurora borealis after the game. My daughter, who used to be my baby girl but now she's all grown up, called me and walked me through the physics behind the lights. A great night to be alive.
Nice :)
Delete@HOG - +1 for the“Quadrophenia” reference…
ReplyDelete“Every year is the same
And I feel it again
I'm a loser - no chance to win
Leaves start falling
Come down is calling
Loneliness starts sinking in”
Life IS good...even if the bad parts seem to be inexorably closing in on us. Well, fuck 'em.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone despises Corporate Hal's concept of the Yankees more than I do, but I'd love to be along for one more ride to the "Canyon of Heroes." We'll see. I DO worry that we're just being set up for Mets fodder, and I DO wonder if Joba could beat Stanton in a foot race, so there...
But great comments, everyone. And Hammer, April is the cruelest month, not October. At least I hope so.
ReplyDeleteI am heartened by the lack of flop sweat sprayed by our closer. I say we continue to rely on our "Dream Weaver", who should be MVP of this past series.
ReplyDeleteStealin' Giancarlo? Is that the name of a post-punk roack band?
ReplyDelete